Dragon Ascendant: A Virtual Buffy Webisode
by Unitarian Jihadist
Summary: Buffy’s dangerous cat and mouse game with the Immortal is complicated by two jealous exes. Meanwhile, Dawn returns to a “rebuilt” Sunnydale High for information from the new librarian.
1. Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

These Are Your Lives

Dragon Ascendant

A Virtual Buffy "Webisode"

Buffy's dangerous cat and mouse game with the Immortal is complicated by two jealous exes. Meanwhile, Dawn returns to a "rebuilt" Sunnydale High for information from the new librarian.

_First, the obvious disclaimers: This is a work of fan fiction, which by definition is written by a fan. The characters and world portrayed herein are the creations and intellectual property of Joss Whedon and his associates at Mutant Enemy. They are also the actual property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox. I am using these characters without permission for nothing more than my enjoyment and hopefully the enjoyment of others. _

_Second, this story is a sequel to the following "webisodes", listed in order: __**Daughters of Caliban, One Less Martyr, Primitive,**__ and__** These Are Your Lives**__. It would be helpful for the reader to read these stories first, but of course, I will be appreciative of anyone who simply reads this one and (hopefully) finds it enjoyable. _

_This is my version of a virtual season 8 that is based on my imaginings of what was going on with the Buffy crew during the excellent season 5 of Angel. With the official Dark Horse and IDW comic book series for Buffy and Angel, this storyline is pretty much moot, but, I thought I would finish it out. _

_With that in mind, here are some useful tidbits that might help to orient you to what is happening._

_Buffy is the reincarnation of the original slayer, the Primitive. The Primitive was created not by the "Shadow Men", but by the mating between a "higher being" and a man from a now extinct species of humanity. The Shadow Men murdered the Primitive, stole her power, and infected a hapless young girl with a portion of the Primitive's power (thus creating the first "called" slayer). When other slayers die, Buffy feels their deaths, and their power "returns" to her. Buffy is now much, much stronger than she used to be. _

_Dawn, it turns out, was a potential after all; but not just a potential slayer. She is now simultaneously a slayer, a witch, and a watcher. She can acquire any language she is exposed to, living or dead, effortlessly. In other words, as a result of Willow's activation spell Dawn has become the ultimate polymath: She can become whatever she wants to be. _

_Willow's powers have continued to increase. She is becoming a Goddess (much to her distress), and if that weren't enough, she is also the world's newest tech billionaire. _

_Xander became a millionaire when an outfit known as Sunset Development purchased all of his old Sunnydale contracts. Recently, he won the "All –Seeing" Eye of Odin through a trial of courage and resourcefulness. He can not see through the eye, but the eye can tell him what it sees if he asks it the right questions. Sometimes the eye tells him things he really doesn't want to know. _

_Giles runs the new Watcher's Council. He has a girlfriend, a 45 year old slayer (and mother of two other slayers) named Lyssa McGrath. Lyssa McGrath's oldest daughter, Karyn, was one of the former potentials in the Battle of the Hellmouth, and is Dawn's best friend. Lyssa's younger daughter, Caitlyn, was the little girl at bat during the softball game at the end of "Chosen"._

_Faith turned herself in to the authorities after the Battle of the Hellmouth. However, Buffy pulled strings to get her in with the Initiative as an alternative sentence. She is already one of Riley Finn's most trusted agents. She is also engaged to Robin Wood. _

_Riley Finn is not only a soldier/spy and Faith's boss; he is now a wizard. Really. _

_The original Watcher's Council was evil. Its mission was to use slayers to protect the seeds of a new Hell on Earth by thwarting invasions from other hells. The original Watcher's Council was a sister organization to Wolfram and Hart and the Circle of the Black Thorn. The Shadow Men, a.k.a. the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart, and their minions, are this season's Big Bad. _

_The same apocalyptic prophecies that predict a pivotal role for the "vampire with a soul" also identify that the forces of Hell will be opposed by a female trinity; the Warrior, the Goddess, and the Adept (a.k.a., Buffy, Willow, and Dawn). _

_This "webisode" takes place simultaneously with the Angel episode "The Girl in Question", which originally aired on May 5, 2004. _

_Finally, this story is written in a present tense format that is designed to describe the action as one might see it on a television screen. In other words, I am really trying for a feel of a virtual television show. With all that in mind, here we go._

_Note: As with the other "webisodes", this will be a longer and more detailed recap than what would really be seen on a television show. For those of you who __**have **__read the previous "webisode", about two months have passed. _

Giles' voiceover: "Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

**Rio de Janeiro, by the smoking remains of the Slayer Academy, and the headquarters of the New Watcher's Council in Devonshire**

Willow is standing by her land rover, in front of the still blazing rubble of the Rio Slayer Academy. She is speaking into a cell phone.

"We've had 6 slayers report in who were either out shopping or visiting their families," Willow says. "Other than them and Kennedy, though, we have to consider the other 72 slayers _lost_."

We then switch to Giles, who is standing in a large atrium. He is on a speaker phone. Surrounding him are several young watchers in training, including Andrew. Also standing among them is Caitlyn McGrath, Lyssa's 12 year old daughter (although she looks even younger). Caitlyn is among the youngest of the new slayers.

"Is there any chance that some of them _survived_ the attack, and are buried under the rubble somewhere?" Giles asks.

Willow shakes her head sadly.

"You aren't seeing what _I'm_ seeing, Giles," Willow says. "Nobody who was in the Academy could have _possibly_ survived. It's a _**total**_ loss."

**The headquarters of the New Watcher's Council in Devonshire**

Giles runs into a room and finds Willow, her hair and eyes black and her face lined with black veins, standing and looking at an enraged Kennedy standing over a sobbing Lucy Westenra (the fourth bride of Dracula).

"Good Lord," Giles whispers. "_**Willow**_?"

"It's OK, Giles," Dark Willow says. "I haven't gone over to the dark side again. I'm still in control. But considering what happened, what was _done_ to us, I thought I'd unleash some of the badness on someone who _deserved_ it."

Dark Willow then approaches and takes a sobbing Lucy by the hair and pulls her upright.

"My very good friend here lost the woman she loves just as they were about to begin a beautiful relationship," Dark Willow says. "And we've _both_ lost people that we loved and felt responsible for. We're really, _really_ pissed."

Dark Willow jerks her head towards Kennedy. Kennedy jams a wooden stake into Lucy's heart yet again. She turns grey, but as Kennedy removes the stake she once again turns back to normal.

"Kennedy and I can keep this up for a _**long**_ time," Dark Willow says. "And when _she_ gets tired? Ripper and I can get _real_ creative."

Lucy turns to look at Giles. He has taken off his glasses and begun to polish them. His gaze is flat and dangerous.

"Now, Kennedy asked you a question, and I suggest you answer it," Dark Willow says. "Who or _**what **_burned down the Rio Academy?"

**The Headquarters of the Circle of the Black Thorn:**

Dracula is suspended upside down in chains over a flaming pit. Most of the flames are blue.

"Kennedy, Giles and I found out what destroyed the Rio Academy," we hear Willow say in a voice over.

"What was it?" Dawn asks, also in voice over.

Then, we see something absolutely _**huge**_ emerge out of the pit. First a head emerges: A giant _reptilian_ head. Then the wings emerge, and we realize what we are seeing.

_**Shall we begin your torture in earnest, Count? **_the Master of the Circle of the Black Thorn asks.

"It was a fire breathing _dragon_," we hear Willow say in voice over.

**Devonshire, the headquarters of the New Watcher's Council**

Giles and Andrew are standing next to each other in front of a damp stone wall, and behind and above them a wall torch flickers. They are obviously in a deep, damp stone cellar. Giles' expression is impassive, while Andrew's expression is one of horrified fascination. We hear a hideous scream of despair.

"So, _why_ are Dracula and his brides so _different _from the other vampires?" Andrew asks. "Why can't they be killed?"

"Actually, they _can_ be killed," Giles says. "They just don't _stay_ dead. They always come back."

"Why?" Andrew asks.

"Because they _aren't_ vampires, not _really_," Giles says. "They're living curses upon humanity."

"Living _curses_?" Andrew asks. "_Really_? Cool! I bet Dracula was _cursed_ with an eternal _thirst_ because he was so, _so_ evil as Vlad the Impaler!"

Giles sighs and puts his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose as if he is fighting off a terrible headache. The screaming is getting louder yet. There are the sounds of an increasing struggle. We hear a familiar voice curse and yell "Stay down and shut up, _bitch_!"

"Andrew," Giles says. "Vlad Tepes was _killed_ in battle with the Turks, and his _head_ was sent to the Sultan, who had it publicly displayed. That's why watchers like myself disregarded the Dracula story as the imaginings of a 19th century Irish author. Beheaded corpses do not become vampires. What we didn't realize is that there was _another_ Dracula. The reason for the shared name, I now suspect, goes back to the etymological meaning of the name '_Dracula_'."

As Giles speaks, our viewpoint shifts so that we see what he and Andrew are watching. Lucy Westenra is bound in garlic laden ropes and a cross is smoldering on her chest. The fourth bride of Dracula is hissing at the slayers who are forcing her into an open, chain draped coffin. The slayer doing most of the forcing is a very, very angry Kennedy.

As our view shifts back to Giles and Andrew, we see that the younger man, for once, is silent as he waits expectedly for Giles to finish his revelation.

"Dracul, dragon," Giles says. "The name 'Dracula' means _**son**__ of the dragon_."

**The living room of Buffy's and Dawn's apartment in Rome.**

Buffy and Dawn are sitting on the couch. The lights are low, and their faces are illuminated by the flickering light of a television screen. We hear low voices coming from the television. Alert and viewers familiar with old movies may recognize the bantering voices of William Powell and Myrna Loy from _The Thin Man_. There is a bowl of popcorn between them.

"I remember this movie," Buffy says.

"From _when_?" Dawn asks. "_I_ don't remember seeing it."

"From the movie theater, when it first came out," Buffy replies.

Dawn hand, with a handful of popcorn, stops midway between the bowl and her mouth. She turns and looks at her sister with a serious expression.

"Obviously, you weren't _Buffy_ at the time," Dawn says. "You were that girl in Germany. _Sonnenblume_, right?"

"That's right," Buffy says. "The movie was dubbed in German. I'd forgotten that."

Buffy turns and looks at Dawn, her expression matching her sister's seriousness.

"I'm not who I _used_ to be Dawn," Buffy says.

"Because you now _remember_ who you were," Dawn says.

"Yeah," Buffy says. "I mean, those women weren't me, and I'm not them, but I _was_ them, y'know? It's like, I'm _Buffy_, but I'm also this ancient, immortal being who has lived over three hundred lives. And, I'm back to being the 'one girl in all the world'. I mean, let's face it, I am never, _ever_ going to have a normal life, in this one or any life to come."

"Did you ever think you would, even after the other girls were called?' Dawn asks.

"Maybe not, but I was thinking maybe I could have a life beyond averting the next apocalypse, y'know? Take vacations now and then. Punch in a time clock and work in shifts with the other slayers. Maybe even settle down with someone…even had someone in mind, if I could've gotten him to notice me like he used to."

Dawn looks very uncomfortable upon hearing her sister's words. Buffy doesn't seem to notice.

"I mean, what kind of guy am I _ever_ going to find _now_?" Buffy says. "Where's a guy who can understand someone with centuries of memories. And don't even _mention_ Angel or Spike. I'm _done_ with that."

**Somewhere in Rome**

A handsome, young looking man is being attacked by six vampires in a winding Rome alley. Suddenly, Buffy drops among them and in rapid succession stakes four of the vampires.

"Back off, _slayer_!" one of the remaining vampires, a formidable looking one standing over six feet tall and probably weighing around 250 pounds. He speaks with a German accent. "Or I tear this boy's head off!"

The "boy" then throws the large vampire over his shoulder. Before the large vampire can even sit up, Buffy stakes him. The last vampire, who is even larger than his companion, implodes into dust after the young man pulls a wooden stake out of his jacket pocket and stabs the vamp in the heart.

"Uhm, it looks like you were already prepared for vampire pests Mr…." Buffy says.

The young man, who very sharp eyed viewers would recognize as the Romance cover man Buffy rescued in "Once More with Feeling", smiles, takes Buffy's hand, and kisses it.

"Immortal," the man says. "I simply go by the name of _The _Immortal."

**Venice**

Willow, Xander, and Buffy are riding in a Gondola.

"OK," Xander says to Buffy. "Isn't it _my_ job to be suspicious of your new boyfriends?"

"I just want you to give him the old 'Odin eye'," Buffy says. "I mean a guy who calls himself the Immortal just happens to be out for a stroll and just happens to be attacked by a pack of vampires? And I swear, the whole thing gave me a _major_ feeling of wiggie deja vu."

"Yep, it's a suspicious coincidence Mr. Immortal Wonderful just happened to cross your path," Xander says. "On the other hand, Dawn knew about the guy as soon as you moved to Rome and had Willow check him out. Right Will?"

"Yeah," Willow says. "Did a deep search on him, and from everything I've found he's not necessarily a good guy, but he's not really a bad guy either. He's like the Switzerland of the supernatural set."

"Maybe he's just curious," Xander says.

"And he's _just_ what you've been looking for," Willow says. "Talk about a perfect fit for your new dating profile."

"New dating profile?" Xander says. "_What_ new dating profile? Why wasn't _I_ consulted for this new '_dating_ profile' (so saying, Xander makes quotation marks with his hands)?"

"_Hush_ sweetie," Willow says. "This is a girl thing."

"But _you're_ into girls," Xander protests. "That makes you like one of the guys. Why would she confide in a guy like you and not a guy like me?"

Willow shakes her head sadly while Buffy gives Xander an odd look.

"That's not really how it works, Xander," Willow says. "I may like other girls, but I'm _still_ a _girl_, so I'm _still_ the only one qualified to be the girlie BFF here."

"You're right Willow, he's exactly what I was looking for," Buffy says, her serious expression and tone stopping the banter between Xander and Willow. "That's the problem. He's just a little _too_ perfect a fit for me since my little past lives memory regression exercise.

"So please, Xan, come on up to Rome and give him the once over for me, OK? For me and my own peace of mind?"

"Fine," Xander says. "Even though I do not get the girlie details of your love life, for _you_ I and my eye will search for the _turd_ in the _punchbowl_ of your lovelife."

Willow says "Gyugh!"

Buffy squeezes her eyes shut as if trying to shut out something very unpleasant.

"Ewwwwww!" Buffy says. "Never, _ever_ use that analogy again."

**Buffy's and Dawn's apartment in Rome**

Dawn is sitting in front of a computer screen. Willow and Buffy are looking over her shoulder.

"The column to the left is my translation from the Sumerian," Dawn says. "_That_ was easy."

Behind Dawn, Willow and Buffy give each other _yeah right_ looks.

"But the column on the right is my translation from the ?'krevlonian, and _that_ was hard," Dawn says. "I could use the Sumerian to figure most of it out, but there were passages in the ?'krevlonian that appear to have been lost by the time the Sumerian translation was written, and this was a language that hadn't been spoken in 30,000 years. I really had to go back to some other ?'krevlonian documents that had been translated into languages I know, and they weren't easy to find."

"But you finally figured it out…" Buffy says.

"Well, yeah," Dawn says. "At least I _think_ I did."

"So what did you find?" Willow asks.

"Confirmation that we are the female trinity, I think," Dawn says.

"I thought we'd pretty well already established that," Buffy says.

"Well yeah," Dawn says. "But this pretty much removes all doubt, if I did the translation right."

Willow and Buffy look at each other.

"So what's it say, Dawnie?" Willow asks.

"Hey," Buffy says. "How come _she_ can call you Dawnie and _I_ can't?"

"Because _she's_ not an annoying older sister who was found in a box of _howler monkeys_," Dawn says. "The passages say that on the eve of the apocalypse, the Goddess will call the Warrior and the Adept to stand at her side."

"So, it's talking about the activation spell," Buffy says.

"That's what it looks like," Dawn says.

"But…but…that was _Buffy's_ idea!" Willow says. "Maybe _she's_ the Goddess!"

"It may have been my idea, but _you're_ the one who did it, Will," Buffy says. "Besides, you're the most powerful of the three of us, so of course you would be the Goddess."

"Maybe before, but not _now_!" Willow says, her voice actually starting to sound a little desperate. "I mean, Dawn knows just about everything and you are now strong enough to leap tall buildings and beat up locomotives. I bet you guys could take me! I still say _Buffy's_ the Goddess."

"Uhm, Willow," Dawn says. "The passage says something else."

Willow turns and looks at Dawn.

"What?" she asks in a small voice.

"It says that the Goddess will call the _sisters_, the Warrior and the Adept, to stand by her side."

**Willow's New York loft**

Buffy and Willow are sitting at a table eating. Behind them, a huge window looks out at the New York skyline. It is night.

"I'm seeing someone," Willow says.

"Really?" Buffy exclaims happily. "That's _great_ Will! Who is she? Is she _hot_?"

"Not _that_ kind of someone," Willow says. "I'm seeing a _shrink_. The Devonshire Coven recommended her. She's also a witch, so I can talk to her freely. I had Xander check her out, you know, after the mess with Althea. She's smart and nice and she's helping me a lot with working out the issues on this whole '_Goddess_' thing."

Willow pauses for a moment.

"And yeah, she _is_ kinda hot," Willow says.

**The New York office of Dr. Lilith Stevens**

Dr. Stevens is a lovely woman with almost black hair and a dark complexion. She looks to be in her late twenties or early thirties.

"Well, Willow," she says. "I have considered everything you have said and I think your problem is one of lack of acceptance."

"Of what?" Willow asks.

"Of coming to terms with your becoming a Goddess," Dr. Stevens says. "Because let's look at the facts. You have engaged in the darkest and the lightest of magicks, you have brought someone back from the dead. _Twice_."

"What?" Willow exclaims. "You _know_ about Miss Kitty Fantastico? I didn't say anything to you about that."

"No," Dr. Stevens says. "But it's hard to miss a spell of that magnitude being cast. And she is making that refuge family very happy."

Dr. Stevens leans forward.

"Willow," she says. "Once you start operating at a certain power level, the power starts to _change_ you. It _has_ to so that you are able to contain it. You have no say about it. The power and the physical ability to contain it have become part of your nature. You are now divine. You are a Goddess. That's just who you are, who you have become."

"_No_!" Willow exclaims, standing up. "I can't be a Goddess. Look at what I almost did. I almost destroyed all life on Earth in a _tantrum_!"

"Willow," Dr. Stevens says. "You've come a_ long_ way since then."

"And then there's my _family_," Willow says. "My mom and dad, they're pretty much what you call _secular_ Jews, but my Great Uncle Abraham?"

"The rabbi, right?" Dr. Stevens says.

"Yeah," Willow says. "I mean, he's had _enough_ trouble with my being a lesbian and a witch. If he finds out I am now a _Goddess_, that will be the _last_ straw!"

So saying, Willow makes a cutting motion with her right hand.

"Willow, _look_ at me," Dr. Stevens says.

Willow turns and looks, and her eyes and mouth go wide. Our viewpoint switches to Dr. Stevens, who is now standing up herself. Dr. Stevens looks different. She seems to glow, and her dark hair has a glossy shine that makes it look like black liquid. But most striking of all, there is a glowing third eye floating just in front of her forehead, and two other, semi-transparent images of Dr. Stevens standing and looking out at right angles from the solid Dr. Stevens.

Our viewpoint moves back to encompass both Dr. Stevens and Willow. Willow's own hair is turning white, and her eyes are starting to glow blue.

Willow falls to her knees.

"_**Hecate**_!" she cries. "You're the _**great goddess Hecate**_!"

'How _else_ did you think I understood what was happening to you?" Hecate a.k.a. Dr. Stevens says. "And_ please_ get up. It's bad form for one Goddess to be kneeling to another one.

"Although you know, you _do_ look kind of _hot_ down there."

**Buffy and Dawn's apartment in Rome**

Buffy, Dawn, Karyn McGrath, and Willow are sitting in front of the TV, sharing popcorn and watching a movie. Willow's hair is back to its customary red, but if you look closely you will pick up some small white streaks. The light flickers on their faces. In the background, we again hear the voices of William Powell and Myrna Loy, this time Thin Man fans might recognize dialogue from the third Thin Man movie, _Another Thin Man_.

"Xander gave my new beau the look over," Buffy says.

"_And_?" Willow asks. Dawn and Karyn continue to munch popcorn and watch the movie. They have obviously heard this before.

"The eye says simply that he's 'The Immortal'," Buffy says, frustration creeping into her voice. "Basically, that's what everyone else in Rome says: 'He's The Immortal', like that says it all."

"Huh," Willow says. "Maybe it does. He simply is what he is. You know, like a _god_ or something."

"Everyone has an agenda, and I am _gonna_ find out his," Buffy says. "And in the meantime, while I am figuring him out, the sex is the best I've ever had."

"Hey, little _sister_ in the room," Dawn says. "Do I _have_ to hear about that?"

"_I_ don't mind," Karyn says. "But then, _my_ little sister isn't in the room."

"He's important, and he has a role in the upcoming fight," Buffy says, ignoring Dawn's and Karyn's comments. "I can sense it."

"That's not all you're sensing," Dawn says.

"Why don't you just _leave_?" Buffy asks her sister, her voice exasperated.

"'cause _we're_ the one watching the movie," Dawn says. "_You_ two are the ones gabbing about your sex life."

"Y'know, _I'm _seeing someone," Willow says.

"You're not talking about your shrink this time, are you?" Buffy asks.

"Well, yeah, I am," Willow says. "Except she isn't my shrink anymore."

"_**Willow**_!" Buffy, Karyn, and Dawn exclaim together.

"Let's go," Dawn says to Karyn as she starts to get up.

"I'm not going anywhere," Karyn says. "This is waaay juicy."

Buffy ignores them as she looks at Willow.

"Well, you _said _she was 'kinda hot'," Buffy says.

"Actually, she's _way_ hot," Willow says. "And she matches a dating profile that I didn't even know I _had_."

**Buffy and Dawn's apartment**

Dawn and Xander are sitting next to each other on the couch eating Chinese food. Xander looks a little uncomfortable.

"Something just isn't right," Dawn says. "I mean, what makes_ me_ the Adept?"

Xander turns and looks at Dawn.

"The Eye just says that's who you are," Xander says.

Dawn turns and kisses Xander quickly on the lips.

"Hey! _**Hey**_!" Xander exclaims. "_Two_ more months! None of that for _two more months_!"

"Less now," Dawn says, looking into Xander's eyes and smiling.

"Still, not _yet_!" Xander says. "Not until you're eighteen. We _agreed_!"

"OK," Dawn says, turning back and taking another mouthful of noodles. She chews, her expression thoughtful.

Suddenly, her eyes widen.

"Wait a minute," she says after a hasty swallow. "I have another question for your eye."

Dawn turns and looks at Xander.

"Ask it if Dawn Summers is the Key's_ first_ human incarnation," Dawn says.

Xander stops, then his eyes widen in evident surprise.

"The Eye says no," Xander says. "There was another."

"I _knew_ it!" Dawn exclaims as she stands up. "Come _on_!"

"Where are we _going_?" Xander asks.

"_Home_," Dawn replies.


	2. Teaser

Teaser

Teaser

**We see the image of a screen within a television screen, and hear an inspiring voice over.**

"The story of Sunnydale is one of tragedy, miracles, and the triumph of the human spirit!" says a authoritative male voice. "On the 20th of May, 2003, an unprecedented natural catastrophe occurred when the entire eastern section of Sunnydale, California collapsed into a giant sink hole."

On the screen, we see an aerial view of Sunnydale collapsing into a great pit, a written caption saying "California National Guard footage".

"Incredibly, from a city of more than 35,000, less than 20 people were lost, most of them girls from a relief agency trying to convince the few people who had stayed behind to leave the city. Not one of the thousands of Sunnydale refugees were able to explain how they knew that a disaster was approaching. But there was widespread agreement from around the country and indeed the world that the near total evacuation of the city_** before**_ what should have been an _unanticipated_ disaster was a true _**miracle**_!"

On the screen, we see a religious service going on in an immense tent (presumably attended by many Sunnydale refugees).

"Less than two weeks later, the western side of the ruined city collapsed into the expanding sink hole, and the Pacific Ocean rushed in, forming a new bay where once there stood a proud city."

On the screen, we see more aerial footage as a section of the crater falls in, followed by a cascading waterfall of ocean water.

"So, most would have thought that this would have been the end of Sunnydale, California, the proud little community sitting on the Pacific. But Sunnydale, founded by the first Richard Wilkins, whose sons and grandsons and great grandsons would continue to build upon his legacy, had unsinkable community spirit. Many of the Sunnydale refugees demanded to go home, to see their community rebuilt."

On the screen, we see a bunch of people, apparently Sunnydale refugees, milling around and shaking each other's hands. Suddenly, we see this image freeze.

"_What_?!" we hear Xander's voice exclaim "_Who_ wanted to rebuild Sunnydale? Everyone _I've_ talked to found someplace else to live, and has _no_ interest in going back."

"Hush, sweetie," we hear Dawn's voice reply. "We haven't even gotten to the good part yet. Wait until you see who the hero of this story is."

On the screen, the images start to move, then the scene switches and we see a Los Angeles skyscraper, with a huge concrete sign saying Sunset Development in front of it. In front of the sign is a water fountain.

"On July 18, 2003, Sunset Development Corporation, in partnership with visionary contractor and Sunnydale native Alexander Lavelle Harris…"

The image freezes again, on an image that appears to be Xander's senior picture.

"_**Hey**_!!" we hear Xander's voice exclaim, this time in outrage. "They make it sound like this rebuilding was _my_ idea! I _swear_ it wasn't my idea!"

"I know, sweetie, I know," Dawn's voice says reassuringly.

"Where did you _get _this crap?" Xander asks demandingly.

"From the gift shop where you wanted to stop to use the restroom," Dawn replies. "Now are you calming down some? Can I restart it?"

Xander grunts unintelligibly.

The chamber of commerce narrator's voice over continues as Xander's high school yearbook photo remains on the screen.

"…began to work to rebuild a city on the very shores of its watery grave. Already, thirty new homes, using the most energy efficient designs, have been built, and ground has been broken on a new city hall, a new high school, and a new mall. Plans are also underway…"

"A new _mall_!" Xander's voice breaks in so that we can't hear what the narrator is saying. "Gotta keep our priorities."

"Shhhhhhhh!" Dawn hisses.

"…and the California Board of Regents has given the go ahead to rebuild the University of California, Sunnydale."

Xander snorts.

"Shhhhhhh!" Dawn hisses again.

"So, because of the proud, never say die spirit of its citizens, like Alexander Lavelle Harris, the future of Sunnydale, California looks very bright indeed. The miracle of Sunnydale preserved that community's most precious resource, its _people_. And…"

The image on the screen goes off, replaced by blue. Then the screen goes black. Our view switches and we see that Dawn and Xander are seated in the back seat of a car. Dawn closes the portable DVD player sitting on her lap.

From the front seat of the car, a voice speaks. Regular viewers of Angel would recognize this voice.

"Did you know, Xander, that there are plans to build a pigeon toilet in your honor next to one of the first Mayor Wilkins?"

"There was only _one_ Mayor Wilkins," Xander says. "It was the same guy impersonating his descendents."

Our viewpoint moves towards the front of the car. We see the mesh metal screen that separates the back seat from the front seat, and we realize that Dawn and Xander are sitting in the back seat of a police cruiser. Sitting in the front passenger seat, turned half around to look in the back seat, is former L.A. Police Detective Kate Lockley. She is wearing a police uniform and a large badge. We briefly see a close up of the badge and see the legend "Sunnydale Chief of Police". The driver of the cruiser is a young woman (not much older than Dawn) in an identical uniform (except her badge is smaller) with dark hair.

"So I've heard," Kate says. She turns to Dawn.

"So, am I still number two behind Dr. McGrath?" Kate asks.

"Nope," says Dawn. "There's a 38 year old mother of five in New Dehli."

Xander looks at Kate Lockley.

"Wait a minute!" Xander says. "Is she a…yeah…they _both_ are!"

"Slayers?" Kate asks. "Yeah, I thought you knew. Giles and Dawn recruited me and Carnacki to apply for the new Sunnydale police department. It turns out we were the _only_ two applicants, so they made me chief."

"And I'm the grunt," Carnacki says.

"And _she's_ the grunt," Kate agrees. "Always gotta have a grunt."

Xander looks at Dawn.

"So, you and Giles _were_ suspicious of the rebuilding of Sunnydale," he says.

"Of _course_ we were, sweetie," Dawn replies. She turns to look at Kate.

"Anything unusual since you've arrived?" Dawn asks.

"_No_," Kate says. "No vampires, no demons, at least none other than _your_ guy."

"He's _enough_, _believe_ me," Xander says.

"Well, so far as I can tell he's been real quiet since he's been here. The only problems we've had are the usual; some drunk and disorderlies among some of the construction workers, and they actually seem to be delighted to go with the hot chick officers to the cooler, so they don't cause much trouble."

Carnacki turns the wheel and the scenery we see through the windows starts to move by slower.

"_Holy_…!" Xander exclaims. "Dawn, _look_ at this!"

"Here we are," Kate says. Our view changes so that we are looking down from on high at the cruiser as it pulls in front of a large construction site. Off to the left of the site are eight portables, two quite large. In the parking lot in front of the construction site and just off the portables, there is a line of two yellow school buses.

Our viewpoint returns to the inside of the car.

"This is the site of the new Sunnydale High School," Kate says. "School will be out in about 5 minutes."

"It looks exactly like the _last_ one, the one _I_ managed the construction on," Xander says. "It was my first project under my own company."

"The high school is holding classes in the portables over to the left," Kate says. "They have six faculty and about 40 to 45 students, and they add about 1 or 2 more a week."

Dawn nods.

"OK, everyone stay here," she says.

"Are you _sure_?" Kate asks. "If this guy is as big and bad as you say he is..."

"He doesn't _look_ big or bad," Carnacki says.

"Believe me," Xander says. "In _his_ case, looks are deceiving."

"I'll be OK," Dawn says. "I think he'll be more likely to talk to me if I'm alone. In a very _sick_ kind of way, he _likes _me. And I can handle him."

"Are you sure?" Kate asks.

"Yeah," Xander says. "She's sure. _I'm_ not sure, but _she_ is."

Dawn starts to get out of the car.

"If you aren't back in 10 minutes, we're coming after you," Xander says.

Dawn turns and looks at Xander without expression. Then she winks, closes the door, and walks towards the portables.

**Somewhere in Rome**

We are in a dark room. A pair of demons, nattily dressed in tuxedos, escort a pair of familiar figures into the room. One, clad in a black suit, is Rupert Giles. The other, dressed very flatteringly in a slinky black dress, is Lyssa McGrath.

Giles and Lyssa are waved to a table, then the two demons leave. Our viewpoint pans over to the other side of the table, where a demon of the same sort as the other two sits, but with a smaller, almost shriveled body and a truly huge head (more than twice the size of the head of the humans or the other two demons).

Giles nods in greeting.

"Lyssa, this is the Capo de Famiglia," he says. "Capo, this is Lyssa McGrath. She's my bodyguard."

The Capo de Famiglia slowly, with great apparent effort, nods his massive head. His two shrunken hands cradle his head on each side as if he is holding it onto his body.

"Enchanted to meet you, Dr. McGrath," the Capo says.

"I don't recall Giles telling you that I was a _doctor_," Lyssa says.

"It's all right, Lyssa," Giles says. "The Capo de Famiglia would be very diligent in researching us. It is not surprising that he knows about you and your profession."

Again, this time with a little greater apparent care and hesitation, the Capo nods his massive head.

"You are correct, Mr. Giles," the Capo whispers. "But then, you were careful in researching _me_ as well. The last time you visited me, you were accompanied by Buffy Summers and Alexander Harris, and Mr. Harris had _two_ eyes whereas before he had _one_. I assume there is something _special_ about Mr. Harris' _new_ eye."

"Your assumption is correct," Giles says. "It was how we were convinced that your offer was genuine. And I have been instructed by Buffy Summers to convey to you her thanks on your willingness to help us."

The Capo chuckles.

"I have never heard of a _watcher_ following the instructions of his _slayer_ before," the Capo whispers. "And our offer to help you arises from self interest. A world in which the interests of good and evil are balanced is a world that has just the right proportion of safety and opportunity. Wolfram and Hart, much less the Circle of the Black Thorn, are not interested in a world in balance."

Lyssa leans into Giles and whispers.

"Are you _sure_ we can trust him?" Lyssa whispers to Giles.

"Yes, and no need to whisper, the Capo can still hear you," Giles says. "Xander's eye was quite insistent that the Capo's offer to help us is genuine."

"But the eye has kept things from him before," Lyssa says to Giles.

"It has indeed," Giles says. "But it has never _lied_ to Xander. Dawn theorizes that the eye's first owner made some deals that the eye itself still honors. Apparently, the eye's previous owner was something of a wheeler dealer."

The Capo chuckles, then stops with an alarmed expression on his face and grabs his head with both tiny, withered hands as if he really _is_ afraid that it will fall off.

"You _must_ be referring to that old rascal, _Odin_," the Capo whispers after he seems to be satisfied that his head will remain in place. "He was always coming here to Earth and making deals like an Arab trader. He and I had a lot in common."

The expression on the Capo's immense face becomes wistful.

"I _miss_ that old bastard. Stupid Loki and his Ragnorok."

Suddenly, the Capo turns and looks at Giles.

"I don't suppose your young Mr. Harris would consider a _trade_…?"

Lyssa's eyes widen in horror. Giles clears his throat.

"I have the item _here_," Giles says as he reaches under his coat pocket and hastily pulls out something wrapped in a black cloth. Giles then stands up and approaches the Capo. The Capo opens his immense mouth wide, and Giles drops the wrapped object into the old demon's open mouth.

"And here is the message Buffy wishes to convey with the package," Giles says. Then he lowers his head and whispers into the Capo's immense ear.

The Capo nods, but this time he does not bring his tiny hands up to his great head. The Capo nods more and more vigorously as Giles steps away and walks back to the other side of the table towards Lyssa.

"We're done here," Giles gently whispers to Lyssa, laying his right hand on her bare left arm.

Giles and Lyssa leave the room while the Capo continues his vigorous nodding. Suddenly, there is a tearing noise, and the great head falls onto the table and rolls across it, coming to a rest just before it reaches the opposite edge of the table and falls onto the floor. The eyes on the head of the Capo are still looking around, and then the head smiles in evident triumph. Our screen goes black.

**Outside the Library portable at Sunnydale High**

As Dawn approaches one of the large portables, with a hand written sign saying "Library" above the door, a bell goes off. The doors to the library portable and to all of the other portables slam open as Sunnydale High students run out the doors and to the parking lot. Some of them scramble onto the buses.

"_Dawn_!" a voice cries out. "_**Dawn**_!!"

Dawn turns towards the voice, her eyes widening in surprise as a girl runs towards her.

"_Janice_!" Dawn cries out. "What are _you _doing here?"

"Didn't you hear?" Janice says. "They're rebuilding the University, and my dad will be getting his chemistry professorship back. He's actually helping to design his new lab.

"What are _you _doing here? Are you going to finish out school here? I mean, next year we'll be seniors!"

Dawn shakes her head.

"Actually, I've _already_ graduated," Dawn says. "I took an accelerated course overseas."

Janice's eyes widen slightly.

"Well, you always _were_ kind of a brain," she says.

Dawn and Janice stand and look at each other. As the sound of departing students fades, the silence becomes awkward. Eventually, Dawn softly clears her throat.

"So, uhm, where do you live?" Dawn asks.

"We got a FEMA trailer, but they've started on our house," Janice says. "Have you seen Sunnydale Bay yet, where the old city was? It's a _trip_! Everything we knew here is under water."

"I bet," Dawn says.

"So, where do _you_ live now?" Janice asks.

"Italy, specifically Rome," Dawn replies. "But we will probably be moving before long."

"Really?" Janice says. "Weird. I mean, _not_ weird but…I'm sorry, I gotta go. My mom still has a thing about me being out late in Sunnydale, y'know?"

"I know," Dawn says.

"Hey, you gonna be in town long?" Janice asks.

"No," Dawn says. "This is just a short visit."

"Looks like you're going to the library," Janice says. "You gonna talk to the librarian?"

"I am," says Dawn.

"He is always helpful and nice to us, but there's _something_ about him," Janice says. "Like maybe he sits at home in front of the 'puter trying to get kids to e-mail him naked pictures.

"Mind you, he doesn't say or do anything creepy, it's just a feeling I have. It's probably nothing."

"It's not nothing," Dawn says. "He used to live in the old Sunnydale. I knew him there, and really wish I didn't.

"You're right to be cautious about him."

"Is your sister around?" Janice asks. "Or maybe Mr. Giles? They seem to be able to handle themselves. I mean, if he's dangerous, maybe you shouldn't go in there by yourself. I can go with you."

Dawn smiles slightly as she looks at Janice.

"Janice," Dawn says. "It is good to see you and to know that you are OK. I'll be fine."

Dawn jerks her head back towards the way she came. Janice turns and our view follows where she is looking until we see the parked police cruiser sitting in the now almost deserted parking lot.

"I have backup."

Janice nods and turns and looks at Dawn. Dawn's expression is now unreadable. Janice seems to sense a new and intimidating distance in her old friend and steps back.

"OK, then, I better go," Janice says. "I'll e-mail you OK?"

"OK."

"'bye."

"Goodbye, Janice."

Janice turns and hastily walks away. The High School is now quiet. Dawn takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

"Just like old times," she says quietly to herself.

Dawn then walks the last three steps to the library portable and lays her hand on the door.

"Except it's not."

Dawn opens the door and steps in. As the door closes behind her, Dawn mutters a single word.

"Lock."

We hear a heavy lock, one that probably wasn't originally included in the door, slide into place. Our view then slowly pans into the library portable. It is surprisingly large, far larger than it looked from the outside. There are shelves of books, and off to the left, a set of shelves with piles of textbooks. The floor is covered in a grey-green carpet. Behind those shelves, we hear someone stacking books. The sound of stacking stops.

"Excuse me, is someone _there_?" a voice says. The voice sounds familiar to anyone who has seen Season 5 of Buffy. "I'm sorry, the library is closing. You might want to come back tomorrow."

Dawn doesn't answer, except to cross her arms, a resolute expression on her face.

The owner of the voice walks out from behind the shelves: A short, grey haired professorial looking man, dressed in slacks, white shirt, a tie, and a vest. He is wearing round glasses that give him an owlish look.

"Well, this_ is_ a surprise!" he says.

"What's _up_, Doc?" Dawn says.


	3. Act 1

Act 1

Act 1

**Buffy's and Dawn's apartment in Rome, Buffy's bedroom**

Karyn McGrath is talking on a cell phone. She is tall (nearly 6 feet), blond, and very good looking.

"OK, Mom," Karyn says. "Yeah, I'll be careful. You be careful too, 'kay? Love you too. 'bye."

Karyn closes her cell phone. Behind Karyn we see Buffy, barefoot in jeans and a bra, walk by to open her closet and go through shirts.

"Mom says the drop went off without a hitch," Karyn says. "She's still a little nervous about that Capo guy, though."

"The Capo is _not_ who we have to worry about," says Buffy as she turns around and holds a yellow shirt up to her chest with a questioning look. Karyn shakes her head. Buffy holds up the white shirt, and Karyn gives her a "thumbs up" gesture. Buffy looks at both shirts a little longer, shrugs, and puts the yellow shirt back in the closet. "I'm a _little_ more concerned about Spike."

"Why is _he_ picking up the head anyway?" Karyn asks. "If this is so important, why isn't _Angel_ doing it?"

"Because _I'm_ here, and if Angel acts like it's a big deal, Wolfram and Hart may decide to take a closer look at the Capo's head. They don't entirely trust Angel yet. They won't until he actually joins the Circle."

Buffy puts on the shirt and looks at herself critically in the mirror. Then, she takes off the shirt and hangs it back in the closet. She takes out two more shirts, one blue and one red. She holds the blue one up to her chest, and Karyn shrugs half heartedly. When Buffy holds the red one up to her chest, Karyn makes an ugly face and shakes her head vigorously.

"I still prefer the white one," Karyn says as Buffy returns the red shirt to the closet and tries on the blue shirt. "So you figure if Angel sends Spike, W & H Bile will decide that the head of the Capo is just another job."

"Right," Buffy says. "And since Wolfram and Hart's Rome office is involved, we _really _want them to think that."

Karyn nods as Buffy puts on the blue shirt. Buffy looks at her image in the mirror and makes a face, then with a sigh takes it off and puts it back on the hook.

"_White_, I'm telling you," Karyn says. "It's your color tonight."

Buffy puts the blue shirt back in the closet and takes out a sleeveless black turtle neck. Karyn shrugs again as Buffy holds it up to her chest.

"Hey," Karyn says. "Do _either_ of them know about you and The Immortal? Dawn says your current boyfriend has a history with both your exes."

"Actually, he has a history with _Angelus_ and pre-soul Spike (well actually, I don't know if pre-soul Spike is all that different from _post_-souled Spike, just less with the murder)," Buffy says. "And no, I haven't said anything. I'm not sure how even _Angel_ would react if he knew about my relationship with The Immortal. He can be such a twelve year old sometimes."

"Yeah," Karyn says. "_About_ that: Why are you so _certain_ he's a bad guy?"

"Because if he was a _good_ guy, he'd tell me," Buffy says. "And I don't think it's a coincidence that he came into my life when he did."

"So if you think dating him is some kind of trap, why are you doing it?" Karyn asks. "And why are you obsessing about a sexy shirt?"

"Because he thinks he's smarter than me," Buffy says.

"He probably is," Karyn says. "He's like a thousand years old."

"Yep, and that makes him much older than Buffy," Buffy says. "But, that makes him 1/300th as old as the Chosen One. He's _underestimating_ me. If he wasn't he wouldn't be giving me such great sex and he wouldn't be so sweet and considerate and romantic."

"What a _fiend_!" Karyn says.

"Yeah," Buffy says without any apparent irony as she puts the white shirt back on and nods at her image in the mirror.

There is the sound of an opening door.

"That will be Andrew," Buffy says.

"Hellooo!" we hear Andrew's voice call out.

"I'll be out in a minute, Andrew!" Buffy calls back. "I'm just finishing getting dressed."

The next moment, there is the sound of a television being turned on.

"Does _he_ know what's going on?" Karyn asks.

"No, and don't tell him," Buffy says. "He does his best work that way."

"And _why_ did his apartment get fire damage again?" Karyn asks.

"Didn't Dawn tell you?" Buffy asks.

"Yeah, but she could have been kidding."

"The New Council got a visit from a pair of Americans…"

"The big red guy and his girlfriend."

"Yeah," Buffy says. "They're _friends_ of the Finns. Anyway, Andrew decides to have them over to his apartment for dinner. Seems the big red guy has a thing for cats and Andrew has two of them. Also, Giles was out settling his grandmother's estate, which was _really_ tricky."

"So did Andrew really ask…?"

"Something _totally_ inappropriate about how they could be intimate? Yep. Fortunately, the girlfriend was just embarrassed. Apparently, she can make some _really_ spectacular pyrotechnics when she is angry.

"Andrew and his cats got out, but his apartment was pretty messed up."

Karyn laughs.

"Andrew," she says. "_Gotta_ love him."

"Yeah," Buffy says. "But he's definitely more loveable from a distance."

**Inside the Library portable at the new Sunnydale High**

"Well," Doc says. "I imagine you have come for one of two purposes. Either you wish to take revenge on me, or you require information from me."

Dawn gestures towards a chair by the nearest table.

"May I…?" she asks.

"Of course," Doc says.

Dawn sits down, tips the chair back and puts her feet on the table.

"I'm sorry, but putting your feet on the table is _not_ permitted," Doc says.

"One, I'm _not_ your student, and two, I don't think putting my feet on the table is nearly as boorish as, say, _you_ tying me to a frame and slicing my flesh with a knife," Dawn says. "I mean, _c'mon_, let's try to keep some perspective here."

"Touché," Doc says. "So, I gather you_ are_ here for revenge?"

"Actually, I am here because I require information from you," Dawn says. "However, if you refuse or are unable to provide said information…_vengeance_ is good too."

"I see…" Doc says. He gestures towards a chair at the next table over, one that is facing Dawn. "May I?"

"Of course," Dawn says.

"So, what do you want to know?" Doc asks.

"Well, one of the things I've always wondered was why you knew that you needed to bleed me," Dawn says. "Considering the fact we had no reason to assume that the Key had ever assumed human form before."

"Your friend Mr. Giles knew this information too, as I recall," Doc says.

"He did," Dawn says. "And he loaned me his source. Imagine my…interest…when I realized that the author of his source was an alias of yours."

"_Really_?" Doc says. He looks like a teacher whose star pupil has impressed him more than he expected. "And what do you know about _me_?"

"You're mercenary," Dawn says. "You worked for a number of employers before you hired on with Glory, including the original Watcher's Council. Your employment with the Council terminated at 214 AD, and they were _very_ unhappy with you. Interestingly, that is also around the time that the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart lost custody of the Key.

"Coincidence? I think not."

"Well, now that her Splendidness is dead I really have no use for you…" Doc says.

"She's _not_ dead," Dawn interrupts. "She's a _god_, and if she would have been _that_ easy to destroy, her brother and sister would have simply put her in a mortal body and killed her themselves when they first exiled her here. I'm sure she has found another host by now.

"_**Don't**_ try to lie to me again, Doc."

"Well, _I _certainly am in no hurry to find her Magnificence," Doc asks. "Is your sister here?"

"No," Dawn says. "She's overseas. But, I have the two members of Sunnydale's Finest waiting for me outside and if they don't see or hear from me in…"

Dawn looks at her watch.

"…four more minutes, they'll come looking for me."

"And, of course," Doc says. "You are aware that both the chief and her officer are slayers."

"Of course," Dawn says.

"Do you really think that they could rescue you before I kill you?" Doc asks.

"You want to find out?" Dawn asks. "I'm game girl."

Doc looks at Dawn and narrows his eyes.

"You _are_, aren't you?" he says. "You're actually hoping that I make a move. I wonder why you are so confident."

"Find out," Dawn says.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe I will," Doc says. "You're _too_ confident, and you'll find I'm really sort of a coward."

"So," Dawn says. "Back to the question at hand: How did you know to bleed me?"

"Well," Doc says. "As you seem to suspect, you are _not_ the first human incarnation of the Key."

"Tell me about it," Dawn says.

**An inn in Devonshire**

We are in a darkened room looking at a bed with mussed up sheets and covers. There is a source of light from above, actually two sources, one yellow, one blue. Suddenly, two naked, giggling female figures fall onto the bed, seemingly from the ceiling, and quickly cover themselves before we can get a good look. One is Willow, her hair white and her eyes glowing blue. The other is Hecate, the third yellow eye floating above her forehead and two shadowy, semi-transparent twins, one lying to Hecate's right, and the other lying to Willow's left. The figure on Willow's left falls out of the bed and makes a light thump as she hits the floor, eliciting another round of giggling from both Willow and all three of Hecate's bodies.

"Ooooops," Willow says. "There's not room for all of you on this bed, missy. Maybe you need to go on a diet?"

This statement results in yet another round of giggling.

"Maybe," Hecate says. The floating eye and the twins both fade away, leaving only the image of the woman we knew as Dr. Lilith Stevens.

The blue glow in Willow's eyes fade, and her white hair returns to its more customary red, for the most part anyway. There are still some white streaks. Willow's expression becomes more serious.

"I…I've never _been_ with someone who I felt like I could let myself go with," Willow says to Hecate. "Even with Tara, I felt like I had to hold back a little."

"It's getting harder and harder to hide your light under a bushel, isn't it?" Hecate says.

"Yeah, it is," Willow says. "But I keep trying to hide that light, even with Buffy and Dawn, and what they're going through isn't all that different from what I'm going through."

Hecate nods.

"It's not but it is," Hecate says. "They are both very powerful, but in a very real sense they are simply going back to who they've always been. You're _different_. If things had happened differently, you never would have become a Goddess."

"Are there others, like us, who could become Goddesses?" Willow asks.

"Sure," Hecate says. "But you're the first one to make it this far in millennia. I have been waiting so long for someone like you to come along. Someone I could love, and who could _withstand _it."

Willow nods.

"I love you _too_," she says. "But…"

"But what?" Hecate says.

"_Why won't you help us_?" Willow asks. "I _still_ don't understand! Buffy, Dawn, and I are going to face the _**Biggest**_ of the Big Bads, _plus_ their armies!"

"You have your _own_ army," Hecate says.

"Yeah," Willow says. "But you? You're even more powerful than _I_ am. You could tip the balance."

"Willow, I can't…" Hecate starts to say. "I can't…to hells with this!"

Hecate looks at Willow, her expression extremely serious.

"_Believe _me, Willow," Hecate says. "If I could stand by your side in this, I would. But I can't. And quite frankly, win _or_ lose you _will_ live through this. It's a benefit of being a Goddess."

"We _can't_ lose," Willow says. "My…this is still my world. I have family and friends here. I _can't_ abandon them and the world to the Wolf, Ram, and Hart!"

"And the _last_ thing I am asking you to _do_ is to _abandon_ them, Willow," Hecate says. "I _want_ you to stand with your friends. You _must_ wage this apocalypse. It's _prophecy_. It's _your_ prophecy."

"But that's all the _more_ reason for you to join us!" Willow says. "That's what people who love each other _do_. They _stand _with each other! Is the rule different for Goddesses and Gods?"

Hecate takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, actually, it _is_," Hecate says.

"I don't understand," Willow says.

"It's the _prophecy_, Willow," Hecate says. "It identifies _you_. It doesn't identify any other Goddess or God. No Zeus or Jehovah or Vishnu…_or_ Hecate. This prophecy _only_ mentions you, which means in the eyes of all other Gods and Goddesses, this prophecy and the apocalypse it describes _belong_ to you. And the one rule we _all_ follow is: 'Thou shalt not mess with another deity's prophecy.'"

"Even if I invite you?" Willow says.

"_Especially_ if you invite me," Hecate says. "You are supposed to be a power unto yourself. If you invite me in and I accept, then that non-interference rule I just mentioned? Out the window! The only reason one deity might ask another one for help is if she is weak, _too _weak to be worthy of the title of Goddess. And if that happens, then it becomes a free for all. Every Tom, Dick, and Horus will decide to jump into your apocalypse, and they won't _all _take your side."

"So if you were to stand with me…" Willow says.

"I can pretty much guarantee you a truly world, and maybe even universe, shattering apocalypse: One where nobody except the divine and the damned survive."

Willow lies back and looks silently up at the roof.

"Willow," Hecate says. "I _wasn't_ even supposed to _tell_ you this."

"It would have _helped_ if you had," Willow says. She pulls a night shirt out of the dresser next to her bed and pulls it on. Then she gets up out of the bed.

"I gotta go," Willow says.

"Willow _wait_!" Hecate says. But Willow has already opened the door and walked out of the room.

"I'm _sorry_," Hecate whispers as her head flops back onto her pillow.

**Buffy's and Dawn's apartment**

"Hello Andrew," The Immortal says. "And how are you this fine evening?"

"Well," Andrew says. "I'm OK, I guess. I miss Jolly Old England though."

The Immortal shakes his handsome, long haired head. He is wearing a black shirt, open halfway down his chest, with black jeans tucked into black boots.

"A cold and _damp_ place," The Immortal says. "I much prefer the Mediterranean climate myself."

Buffy walks out, putting on her left earring.

"Ready?" she says.

"Always for you, my dear," The Immortal says.

Buffy slips her arm under The Immortal's.

"So what's the plan for _tonight_?" she asks.

"I thought we would go to the club for some dancing," The Immortal says. "And maybe cool down with a midnight stroll after that."

Buffy turns and beams at Andrew.

"Sounds perfect!" she says. "Don't wait up!"

"I won't," Andrew says. "I have plans for tonight myself."

We follow Buffy and The Immortal out the door and into the hallway.

"What sort of plans might Andrew have tonight?" The Immortal asks.

"A date with two lovely young women," Buffy says.

"Slayers?" The Immortal asks.

"Yeah, the Italian slayer Isabella…and Caprice," Buffy says.

"Caprice?" The Immortal says. "I don't think I know that one."

"Well, actually it's _Karyn_. It's her Italian name when she hangs with Dawn's Italian friends."

"I see," The Immortal says. "I must admit, that surprises me somewhat."

"Why's that?" Buffy asks as she and the Immortal step out of the building and into the waiting Limo. "You think he's too nerdy to date good looking women?"

"No," The Immortal says. "I just notice he spends more time looking at _my_ chest than yours."

"So do I," Buffy says.

"Precisely," says The Immortal.

**Inside the Library portable at the new Sunnydale High**

"I was hired by the Stoic Honor Legion, the predecessors of the Knights of Byzantium, and the Order of Mitra, who eventually became the Brotherhood of the Key, to…liberate…the Key from the possession of the Ram," Doc says.

"The Shadow Man who was primarily in charge of the Watcher's Council," Dawn says.

Doc looks impressed again.

"That's correct," he says. "Although I had just completed my third century of employ with the Council, the Legion and Order both offered me an incentive that the Council did not."

"The opportunity to go home," Dawn says.

"Now, how did on Earth did you know _that_, young lady?" Doc asks, clearly now extremely impressed with Dawn's knowledge.

"I _didn't_ for sure until just now, but it _seemed_ likely," Dawn says. "You're the only one of your kind, and always have been. You appeared out of nowhere in Sumer around 4,000 BC. I'm guessing you were summoned here with no way of getting back. Or, you are some sort of inter-dimensional traveler who got himself lost."

"That's correct," Doc says. "And I have been away from home for a very, _very_ long time."

Underneath the table where he is sitting, Doc is kicking off his shoes and socks.

"The Key, you see, is the best way to get to many, _many_ places," Doc says. "And even very old demons like _myself_ get homesick."

So saying, Doc suddenly launches himself from behind the table and towards Dawn. Dawn, however, is prepared. She kicks herself back and performs a back roll as soon as her chair hits the floor. Dawn continues to back away even as Doc pulls a long, thin dagger from underneath his vest. A charm on the bracelet on Dawn's right wrist starts to glow a bright green color, and a sword suddenly appears in her right hand. Doc, crouching like a frog on top of the table Dawn was just sitting at, opens his mouth and his long tongue pops out. Dawn leaps aside and looks at the location where Doc was squatting.

But he is no longer there.

"I'm very, _very_ impressed Dawn," Doc says from somewhere in the room. "Your previous incarnation took _two decades_ to learn to call a weapon from another place. I can see the reason for your confidence.

"But you see, your problem is, I know more about you than you do yourself."

"_Really_?" Dawn says. "Good. That's what I'm counting on."

"You thought your control over your power would be enough," Doc says, his voice seeming to move around. "But I have lived a very, _very_ long time. Many have tried to destroy me. None have succeeded, not even the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart themselves. And believe me, they have tried."

"Keep trying to mess with my head," Dawn says as she looks around. "It won't work."

"Oh my dear," Doc says. "It already has."

A splatter of black goo lands on Dawn's shoulder. Dawn looks straight up. Our viewpoint follows her gaze until we have a Dawn's eye view of what she sees. Doc is clinging to the ceiling like a human fly. His head is looking down at Dawn at a 180 degree angle from his body. His eyes are two black pits, and the expression on his face is one of terrible joy. In his right hand, he holds his thin, very, very sharp looking dagger.

"Shallow cuts," he says. He drops down from the ceiling and the screen goes black.


	4. Act 2

Act 2

Act 2

**Just outside the Library portable at Sunnydale High**

Xander, Kate Lockley, and Officer Carnacki are all standing outside the portable.

"Kick it open," Kate says to Carnacki.

Carnacki rears back and kicks the door with an elephant kick. The door doesn't budge, and Canacki falls back into Xander's arms.

"You OK?' Kate, clearly surprised, asks Carnacki.

"Yeah, but that door should be _toast_," Carnacki says.

"I'll give it a try," Kate says, stepping forward to take Carnacki's place.

"Don't bother," Xander says. "It's been mystically locked and reinforced. Not even you two are going to be able to kick it down, or break in any other way."

"Did _Doc_ do that?" Kate asks.

Xander looks at the door.

"No," he says. "It was Dawn."

"I guess she _really_ wanted some alone time with this guy," says Carnacki.

**Inside the Library portable at Sunnydale High**

Dawn is wrestling with Doc. She has a slight and shallow cut on her left cheek, but she now has a hold of Doc's right wrist and is forcing it and the knife he is holding back and away. Doc is clearly startled, and perhaps a little scared.

"How?" Doc says. "You're _strong_…"

"Yeah, I am," Dawn says. She then bends Doc's wrist back. There is a pop and the knife falls onto the carpeted floor. Then, Dawn turns and hurls Doc away with a flick of her left arm. Doc hurtles through the air until he hits a wall of shelves. The shelves collapse with a loud crash, and Doc falls with them. As he starts to get up, our view switches back to Dawn. She points at the nearest table with the sword in her right hand and the table slides along the floor and slams into Doc, knocking him back into the wall. Dawn then looks at the dagger on the floor, and the dagger flies through the air point first until it strikes Doc's right wrist, pinning it to the wall. Dawn then hurls her sword through Doc's chest, pinning him like a butterfly. Doc spits black bile and then his head falls limp.

"_Deep_ cuts," Dawn says.

Doc doesn't move.

"Stop playing possum," Dawn says. "I may hope it really hurts, but I _know_ that didn't kill you."

Doc looks up at Dawn. He tries to speak before coughing uncontrollably. His second and third tries at talking are also interrupted by uncontrolled coughing. Dawn picks up a chair and carries it with her until she is standing right in front of the old demon sorcerer. She then sits in it backwards, facing Doc.

"So (cough!) you're (cough! cough!) you're a _witch_!" he finally sputters out.

"You seem surprised," Dawn says, leaning forward over the back of her chair. "Perhaps you _don't_ know me better than I know myself."

"Your strength…" Doc says. "I don't…I don't detect an enhancement spell."

"I'm the sister of Buffy Summers and the spiritual sister of the Chosen One," Dawn says. "And you yourself once commented on my excellent genetics."

"So, you are a _slayer_ as well?" Doc says. "_Remarkable_.

"No _wonder_ you were so confident."

"Now," says Dawn. "You were telling me about being hired to steal the Key."

"Yes," Doc says. "The Council was located in what would become Romania, they would not move to England for another one thousand two hundred years. Our location was, to put it kindly, rural. I was approached by a young priestess from the Order and her six Stoic Legion bodyguards. The clerics of the Order had a plan, you see. But, they couldn't get close enough to the Key to implement it themselves."

"They needed an insider," Dawn says. "And that was you."

"And that was me," Doc says. Then he blinks, first with his eyelids, then with what appears to be his eyeball. The eyeball rolls back and reveals the darkness underneath.

"I wonder," Doc says. "How can you be _sure_ I am telling you the truth?"

"Good point," Dawn says.

Dawn turns around briefly, points to the door, and says, "Unlock."

The door opens, and Xander is the first one through, followed by Kate and then Carnacki. Both officers have their guns out. As Dawn starts to turn around, Doc's tongue shoots out towards Xander. However, without appearing to even look, Dawn grabs it out of the air.

"Geeze!" says Carnacki. "Chief, did you see _that_?"

"Shhhhhh!" says Kate.

"Do that again, and I'll see how long I can pull on it before I tear it out," Dawn says. "_Capish_?"

"Gabagh," Doc replies. Dawn lets go of the tongue and it immediately snaps back into Doc's mouth.

"OK, Doc, go on," Dawn says. "Xander, keep a close eye on him, if you know what I mean."

**A dance club in Rome**

It's loud, and Buffy is dancing without any apparent inhibitions. The Immortal is dancing in the middle of a pack of women and also some men. Buffy is simply the closest of multiple dance partners, but she doesn't seem to mind sharing her partner.

Suddenly, in the distance there is a crashing sound.

Buffy doesn't turn but continues to dance, but The Immortal looks over and reaches over and lightly touches Buffy's arm. As Buffy stops dancing, The Immortal points behind Buffy and to her left. Buffy turns, and a surprised, then disgusted, look crosses her face.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Buffy says under her breath.

Our viewpoint switches to what Buffy is looking at. We see Angel and Spike at the bar, fighting with a group of big and bald men.

"So, do you want to assist them?" The Immortal asks.

"Assist who?" Buffy asks. "The stalky vampires or the bald guys?"

Buffy then shakes her head disgustedly.

"Let's just get out of here," she says. "_**Way**_ out of here."

The Immortal nods, and, taking Buffy by the hand, maneuvers to the back of the club. He raps on a wall, and seconds later the floor itself drops underneath them, and another floor, identical to the first even down to the stains, rolls into its place. Our viewpoint switches to the street, and a manhole cover slides over and Buffy and The Immortal rise out of the hole as if they are riding an elevator. As soon as their feet are level with the street, they both step out and get into a limo that pulls up next to them.

Buffy and The Immortal slide into the back seat. The Immortal pulls the door shut and turns to Buffy.

"Where to now?" The Immortal asks. "Your apartment?"

"Are you kidding?" Buffy says. "Angel knows where I live."

"I thought you and he were close," The Immortal says.

"We were," Buffy says. "But in our case, close is not healthy. More to the point, he is obviously _stalking_ me now, and if it wasn't bad enough, he brought _Spike_.

"Besides, he's working for Wolfram and Hart now. You know, the _enemy_?"

"I see," The Immortal says. "The question remains, then, where to?"

Buffy shakes her head. "I don't know. Somewhere they won't even _think_ to look for us."

"I know a place," The Immortal says.

**Inside the Library portable at the new Sunnydale High**

"I don't _like_ this, Chief," Officer Carnacki says to Kate Lockley. "I don't like this one little bit."

Carnacki and Kate are looking at Doc, pinned to the wall by a sword and a dagger. Doc and Dawn are talking in low voices like two businessmen meeting for a working lunch.

"I mean, it ain't right, him just hangin' there like that," Carnacki says.

"Jo," Kate says. "He's a _demon_. A _bad guy_. You saw his tongue."

"That doesn't mean that he should be crucified to a wall like…like a damn live butterfly," Jo Carnacki says.

"They…they didn't _tell_ you about the history between Doc and the Summers girls at Cleveland, did they?" Kate asks.

"No, I haven't taken Sunnydale History yet," Jo says. "Hell, I was taking Intro to Vampires and Demonology 101 when the academy was evacuated."

"Back in May of 2001, Doc had Dawn Summers tied to the top of a platform," Kate says. "Then he walked up to her, took a knife, maybe the very one that is now pinning his wrist to the wall, and started to slice into Dawn's belly."

"Whoa," Jo says. "That explains why Dawn turned him into a living poster."

"Considering what happened, Dawn is being very restrained," Kate says. "But you haven't asked the important question, rookie. And that question is _why_? Why was Doc ritually bleeding Dawn in the first place? And the answer to that question is Doc was trying to open a gateway."

"Because Dawn is the Key," Jo says. "Yeah, _that _I remember."

"Doc was literally trying to open a hole between dimensions so that his boss, a friggin' _**Hell God**_, could go home," Kate says. "The problem is, there is more than one hell, and when someone tries to open a gateway to a hell, they usually end up opening the gateway to a lot of hells. And that gateway runs both ways."

"Good thing he didn't succeed, then," Jo says.

"That's the point, Carnacki," Kate says. "He _did_ succeed. Dawn's blood opened gates to hells and hells were coming through. Sunnydale was being overrun with demons, and considering the demon population that was already here at the time, _that's _saying something."

"Somebody must have shut the gate then,"

"Yes, but not Dawn," Kate says. "She'd been bled. She could barely stand.

"It was Buffy Summers who threw herself into the rift. She was similar enough to Dawn, probably by virtue of being her sister, that the gate was fooled into thinking that the Key was plugging her own lock."

"Sounds hazardous," Jo says.

"It was _fatal_," Kate says. "Buffy Summers threw herself into the rift, and it killed her."

"_Killed_ her?" Jo asks. "What happened then, did they give her CPR and revive her at the hospital?"

"No, they _buried_ her," Kate says. "And three months later, Willow Rosenburg literally brought her back from the dead."

Jo looks at her Chief, her mouth open.

"She can _do_ that?" Jo whispers incredulously.

"She turned you, me, and about 600 other women, mostly girls, into superhuman vampire slayers," Kate says. "What do _you_ think?"

**Devonshire**

Willow is sitting outside, although we can't really tell where. We hear the sounds of some night animals, including the calls of nightingales.

"Thought I'd find you here," a familiar voice says. Then Hecate, in her Lilith Stevens guise, appears and sits next to Willow.

They sit in silence for awhile.

"I'm sorry," Willow finally says in a small voice.

"Don't be," Hecate says. "You are loyal to your friends and you want everything to work out. It's one of your more enduring qualities."

"It's also one of my more dangerous qualities," Willow says.

Hecate sits and silently looks out at space for a moment. The she shrugs.

"You're right about that Willow," Hecate says. "But the fact remains, your heart is in the right place. It was in the right place even when you were being bad and out of control."

"No one falls harder than a broken idealist," Willow says. "That's what my ex-shrink said to me once."

"Yeah," Hecate says. "Look Willow, I'm sorry too. I should have told you but…"

"But I wasn't even supposed to _think_ about asking for your help," Willow says. "I _get_ it. It's a Goddess thing. I'm supposed to be a complete power unto myself."

"Yeah, well, maybe you can help to change our thinking after you win this apocalypse," Hecate says.

"You really think we're gonna win this one?" Willow says.

"Hey, _confidence_," Hecate says. "Kinda comes with being a Goddess."

"Yeah, that's what's making me nervous," Willow says.

"What do you mean?" asks Hecate.

Every other apocalypse we've been in, we faced overwhelming odds," Willow says. "I mean, we were complete and total _underdogs_!

"But this time, I'm turning into a Goddess, Buffy is now Superman strong, and Dawn is smart enough to figure out what our enemy is thinking a week before they do. I mean, we're going into this one like we're the _overdogs_ (is that a word?), or at worst the odds seem to be _even_. And in the apocalypses _I've_ been in, the favorites to win have _lost_."

"You know," Hecate says. "On _your_ side you have, what, 380 slayers or so, plus _you_ three? The Wolf, Ram, and Hart, on the other hand, have established themselves not only _here_, but in _hundreds of other dimensions_ they hope to conquer. They can call on demons from the Seven Allied Hells in a matter of _minutes_. In open warfare, you will be facing armies 20 _times_ or more the size of _yours_."

Willow and Hecate sit next to each other. We slowly pan back until we realize they are not sitting on the ground, or even a bench. They are both sitting crosslegged about 20 feet over the crown of a tall tree.

Willow grins and leans over and kisses Hecate on the cheek.

"That was _great_!" Willow says. "I feel _so_ much better about this now."

"Glad to be of help," says Hecate.

"Yeah," says Willow. "I'm so relieved."

We continue to pan away from Willow, Hecate, and the tree they are floating over. We see the Inn to the right.

"Good," Hecate says, her voice fading with distance.

"Yep," Willow says. "Feelin' good now."

**Inside the Library portable at the new Sunnydale High**

Doc is speaking to Dawn. In spite of the fact that he is impaled against the wall by a sword through his chest, and a dagger through his right wrist, he doesn't seem to be particularly uncomfortable.

"The Watcher's Council, I should note, did pay me well both in coin and in providing me with some preferred…dietary items."

"_Don't_ ask," says Xander.

"But, they didn't even tell me about the Key. I had no idea it even existed."

"Her," Dawn says.

"Pardon?" Doc says.

"I happen to know that the Key was created female," Dawn says.

"_Really_?" Doc says. "I don't suppose you will tell me how you…"

His voice trails off as he looks into Dawn's stony gaze.

"No, I suppose not," Doc says. "At any rate, I worked for the Council as a necromancer. I assume you know…?"

"You raise and have control over the dead," Dawn says.

"Yes," Doc says.

"That explains a lot," Dawn says.

"What?" Doc says. "What does it explain?"

"Go _on_," Dawn says.

"It wasn't until I was contacted by the Order of Mitra through the Stoic Legion that I was told about the Key," Doc says. "They knew that the Key could get me home, and they knew that was what I ultimately wanted. It was the one form of payment that the Council had not offered me, indeed had _hidden_ from me. So, when they offered me the use of the Key if I could help them get it out, I had no problems accepting their offer. They couldn't get close to it, but_ I_ could. And once I knew that it was there, I could access it."

"As a necromancer," Dawn says.

"Yes," Doc says, his eyes narrowing. "You seem to know where this story is going."

"There was a sacrifice," Dawn says.

"That's correct," Doc says. "The young priestess offered herself up as a sacrifice. I brought her into the compound. The Council was used to that."

Our viewpoint now shifts so that we see what appears to be a large building of ancient Roman design. Doc, sans glasses, is wearing a toga and he is carrying a young woman with dark hair over his shoulder.

"Because of your dietary peculiarities," we hear Dawn say in a voice over. We see Doc carrying the young woman over the threshold, and being waved in by a couple of guards.

"Yes," we hear Doc say. "Once we got to my quarters, I performed a death spell on her."

We see Doc wave his hand over the girl, who is kneeling in front of him. We briefly see Doc's tail emerge from the folds of the toga. The girl's eyes briefly flash red before she collapses like a puppet with cut strings.

"Then, I performed another spell where I summoned the Key and placed it in the priestess' body," we hear Doc say.

We see Doc kneel over the girl's corpse, then he waves his hands over the body, and the girl's eyes flash green. She takes in a breath and starts to get up. She falls back down, looks up at Doc, and starts to speak angrily to him. We can't hear what she says.

"It was rather amusing really, the 'priestess' woke up and demanded to know why the death spell hadn't worked. She was quite shocked when I told her that it had, and that her soul was now the Key."

When the girl stops speaking, apparently to take in a breath, Doc speaks and her eyes go wide in apparent wonder.

"The Key's presence within the girl effectively hid it…pardon me…_her_…from the Council. I was able to carry her out right under their noses."

We see Doc carrying the girl out over his shoulder. The guards don't even spare Doc a second look.

Our view then switched back to the interior of the library portable, and specifically Doc and Dawn.

"We had to keep the Key inside the girl to keep her from being detected by the Council and its three masters," Doc says. "Unfortunately, the Key's animation of the girl also prevented me, or the Order, from accessing her power."

"Was the Order interested in accessing the Key's power?" Dawn asks.

"Not really," Doc says. "They just didn't want the Wolf, Ram and Hart to have it.

"But _I_ wanted it."

"And you still do," Dawn says.

Doc chuckles.

"Yes, my dear," he says. "Yes I do."

**Streets of Rome**

Giles and Lyssa are walking on a brick sidewalk along a brick street. Lyssa is holding Giles' hand, and her head is on his shoulder.

"It's like the calm before the storm," Lyssa says.

"Well, it's May," Giles says. "It seems like we always get our _worst_ storms in May."

We hear a cell phone ring. Lyssa stops and pulls out her cell phone.

"Last May, I _squashed_ my phone," Lyssa says as she opens the phone up.

"Yes," Giles says. "During the _last_ storm."

"Hello?" Lyssa says. "Hi pumpkin. Yes, I'll be back in England tomorrow. Yes, Karyn _and_ Mr. Giles will be with me."

Lyssa turns and looks at Giles with a wry smile.

"'Hi Giles'," she says.

"Hello Caitlyn," Giles says back.

"No, you can't come here, Caitlyn," Lyssa says into the phone. "There is no safer place than with the coven right now…yes, Karyn and I will both be…"

We hear a sudden and (somewhat) distant boom.

"Was that what I think it was?" Lyssa asks, removing the phone from her ear.

"Yes," Giles says. "That was a bomb."

"Brought back some bad memories," Lyssa says.

We hear an almost hysterical young voice coming out of Lyssa's phone. Lyssa puts the phone back up to her ear. We now hear approaching police and fire sirens.

"You heard it too, sweetheart?" Lyssa asks. "No, we're fine. I don't think it has anything to do with us."

As Lyssa is listening to her youngest daughter on the phone, a little Vespa bike goes by ridden by two smoking figures. Giles and Lyssa watch the Vespa go by without saying anything.

"It's all _right_ sweetheart," Lyssa says. "We're fine, and we'll be back home soon…No, I don't suppose I consider Devonshire home either. Yes, I love you too. Goodbye."

Lyssa snaps her phone shut.

"I'm sorry Giles," Lyssa says. "She's still a little paranoid, in between what happened to her father and me almost getting blown up by the Quentin bomb…were those two _vampires_ who went by on a Vespa?"

"Yes," Giles says. "But you don't need to go after them."

"You mean they're…" Lyssa says.

"Spike _and_ Angel," Giles says. "Yes."

"I thought Angel was sending Spike by himself?" Lyssa says.

"He was," Giles says. "May I borrow your cell?"

Lyssa hands him her cell.

"You know, it's the twenty first century, it wouldn't hurt you to get one of your own," Lyssa says.

Giles starts to punch in a number.

**Rome, the interior of The Immortal's Limo**

Buffy and The Immortal are cuddling together when Buffy's cell phone rings to the tune of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

"Excuse me," Buffy says as she disengages herself from The Immortal, who makes a briefly disappointed face.

Buffy pulls her cell out of her purse. The cell is pink and has a pig emblazoned on the back.

"It's Giles," she says. "I better take this."

Buffy opens her phone and puts it to her ear.

"What's up Giles?" she asks. "So, you saw them too, huh? Yeah, they were in the I-man's club about half an hour ago. He's taking me someplace where we can have some privacy…yeah, of _course_ I'll be careful. 'bye."

"What was that about?" asks The Immortal as Buffy snaps her cell phone shut.

"Giles spotted guess who on the streets of Rome," Buffy says as she starts to laugh. "And get this, they were riding a _Vespa_."

The Immortal joins Buffy in laughing. Buffy laughs harder.

"Which one was _driving_?" The Immortal asks between gasps.

Buffy takes a couple of breaths to get herself back under control.

"I didn't…I didn't even think to ask," Buffy says. "But I can just imagine the expression on the one riding in back.

"They're both such twelve year olds. I can't believe they came here to spy on me."

"Actually, it is my understanding that they are here on Wolfram and Hart business," The Immortal says. "Something about the Capo de Familiglia."

"The casa de _what_?" Buffy says.

"The…never mind," The Immortal says. "We're here."

"If this is Wolfram and Hart business," Buffy says. "Maybe I need to know about it. They are, after all, my enemy."

"The Capo de Familiglia and his clan are harmless," The Immortal says. "I, on the other hand, am _not_."

Buffy turns and looks at him, her expression a mixture of suspicion and flirtation.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Buffy says.

The Immortal leans forward and kisses her.

"Let's find out, shall we?" he says.

Then The Immortal turns and nods to the driver. We hear a car door open and close, then the door opens and The Immortal gets out.

"Come with me," he says.

Buffy gets out. Our viewpoint pans back and we see that they are in between two rows of identical, four story warehouses. The buildings are new, modern, and clean looking. They are also featureless except for their windowless red brick exteriors. Each one has a light over a large, central door.

"What is this place?" Buffy asks.

"My personal storage," The Immortal says. "When one has lived for over 1,000 years, one gathers a lot of property. I need more room for my 'stuff' than most."

"So, is there anything here that you want to show me?" Buffy asks.

"No," The Immortal says. "But these warehouses are in the name of a company owned by another company owned by another company owned by yet another company that does business with a company that I somewhat publicly own. As a result, no one connects me here and, as you yourself requested, no one will even _think_ to look for us here."

"Excellent," says Buffy.

"Follow me," says The Immortal. So saying, he takes out a key and walks to the nearest warehouse. He unlocks the door and it opens with a squeal. The Immortal hold the door open, and Buffy walks through.

Our viewpoint shifts to the interior of the warehouse. It is open and, for the most part, empty except for a wooden crate here and there. The interior is lit by a flickering light, and as our viewpoint pans around, we see an elaborate if small round table lit by two candles. There is a sumptuous spread on the table, and two plates with assorted stemware arranged around them. The chairs are high backed and intricately carved. A short distance away, dimly lit by the flickering candlelight is a four poster bed.

"Wow," Buffy says. "You're the first person since my late mother I've seen make a warehouse look classy."

The Immortal closes the door and locks it behind them.

"Do you like it?" he asks.

"Yeah, I _love_ it," Buffy says.

"Good," The Immortal says as he steps closer, standing right behind Buffy. "Ever since I actually met you, I always wanted you to die happy."

Our viewpoint shifts so that we only see Buffy, her back turned to us, in the foreground, the meal and bed in the background.

"Pardon?" she says.

"You _heard_ me," The Immortal says. "I am revealing my 'true colors'.

"What you are looking at is the final decoration for a gilded trap. Now that I have gotten you _away_ from your sister, you witch friend, your watcher, even your two ensouled ex-paramours, I have the privilege of striking the first decisive blow of the Apocalypse.

Buffy stands still, her back still to us. She seems frozen in place.

"Well, Miss Summers, do you have anything to say before I kill you?" The Immortal asks.

Our viewpoint switches so that we are looking at Buffy's face. She looks very serious.

"I am sure this is a dreadful shock," The Immortal says.

Buffy smiles at that, then she hunches over very slightly and punches the air with a short arm movement while mouthing _yesssssss_.

"So _you're_ the reason why Spike and Angel are here," Buffy says. "You brought them here because you knew I would try to hide from them, and you obligingly found us a hiding place."

"I'm the reason why _Angel_ is here," The Immortal says in a tone of correction. We notice that he now takes a couple of cautious steps backward. "Believe it or not, Angel was perfectly content to send Spike to Rome in his stead. Both Spike and Angel, of course, are unaware that you already know of his return from the dead."

"So Angel thought that Spike might check up on me from a distance, but would hesitate to visit me openly," Buffy says.

"Yes," The Immortal says. He is now standing by the door they had entered through. "They are both rather scared of you, you know, with good reason."

"So why is _Angel_ here?" Buffy asks.

"Angel had someone following you," The Immortal says.

"Yeah, a man named Martinelli," Buffy says. "I talked to him when I first noticed him. Harmless, actually kinda nice in a creepy sort of way."

"Did you notice he was missing tonight?" The Immortal says.

"Yeah," Buffy says. "But since he worked for Angel, and since Angel was here, I figured that made sense. Did you do something to him?"

"He's fine, just a little bruised," The Immortal says. "Have you ever heard of the serpent men?"

"No," Buffy says.

"A very early variety of human demon hybrid," The Immortal says. "They can project a glamour that allows them to disguise themselves as any human they have seen and heard. They were effective spies early on, but they were almost wiped out when a magic phrase was created, a phrase no serpent man can speak.

"But now it's been so long that no one even remembers them, much less the magic words that reveal them. During one of your patrols, one of the last of the serpent men disguised itself as you and accompanied me on a 'date' (so saying, The Immortal makes quote marks in the air). When the unfortunate Mr. Martinelli followed, 'you' turned around and beat the hell out of him. Since Angel knew that you tolerated Mr. Martinelli, this rather brutal change in your behavior understandably alarmed him."

"So Angel decided to tag along on Spike's errand to find out if something was up with me," Buffy says.

"And since, as you yourself have said, when Angel and Spike are together, they become twelve year olds, I knew that you would want to get away from them, which permitted me to set up this little ambush."

"Speaking of which, where's the ambush?" Buffy says, turning around and looking at The Immortal. "I don't see an army of demons here, and believe me, you're gonna need one."

"No," The Immortal says. "_I'm_ not the one who is in need of an army."

The action on the screen starts to move in slow motion. Buffy's gaze slowly travels from a horizontal orientation upwards, until she is craning her neck up. As Buffy's gaze travels upwards, we see a rain of fabric around her.

Then, the action resumes to normal speed. Our viewpoint switches, and we now see that Buffy is looking up at the huge dragon who rules the Circle of the Black Thorn.

"Huh," Buffy says (in a tone that might be followed by _how about that?_).

**Goodbye, Buffy, **says the Master of the Circle of the Black Thorn.

The Dragon tips back his huge head, then the head moves forward again and spits out blue fire. The fire fills the screen, before the screen goes black.

_One quick note: The serpent men mentioned in this chapter were the creations of the late pulp fiction writer, Robert E. Howard. Howard is best known for his creation, Conan the Barbarian. The serpent men appeared in a story featuring an earlier creation, King Kull of Atlantis. _


	5. Act 3

Act 3

**Devonshire, the Headquarters of the New Watcher's Council **

Twelve year old Caitlyn McGrath walks into the large communications room. A bookish looking young woman, a watcher-in-training named Heather Davenport, is sipping a cup of coffee and watching about six computer screens.

"Hi Heather," Caitlyn says.

"Hello Caitlyn," Heather says in a clipped voice conveying the slightest hint of disapproval. "Begging your pardon, but haven't you gone to bed yet?"

"Yeah," Caitlyn says. "But I'm a _slayer_, remember? I need about 2 to 4 hours of sleep a night. Tonight, 2 was enough."

"Worried about your mum and sister?" Heather asks.

"Little bit," Caitlyn says. "They're both doing slayer business so…"

Whatever else Caitlyn was going to say is interrupted by the sudden sounding of an alarm, followed by the sound of a distant but still loud crash. Heather's eyes go wide.

"That's the Scythe Room!" Heather cries.

There is the sound of another crash, and of tearing metal, followed by yet another crash.

"I'll go!" Caitlyn says.

"Caitlyn _**no**_!" Heather yells, but Caitlyn is already running out of the room and down a corridor. We follow her down the stairs into a sub-basement. She is joined by two other young women who run with a similar agility, obviously two other slayers. One is east Indian in appearance, the other a black haired young woman. At the bottom of the stairs, the three slayers stop and gape. Suddenly, the east Indian slayer reaches out and pulls the dark haired slayer aside, and a section of ceiling falls where the dark haired slayer was standing.

"Whoa," Caitlyn whispers, and our viewpoint switches so that we see where they are looking. We are looking at a huge vault, with its thick metal door torn off its hinges. Through the gaping doorway, we see three torn metal mounting straps, obviously where the Scythe was hung.

"Look at the door," the Indian slayer, Parminder, says. "It looks like it was broken from the_ inside_."

Our viewpoint switches to the three slayers again. As one, they all look up, and our viewpoint follows their gaze. There is a hole in the ceiling, and in the ceiling above it, and the ceiling above it, and three more ceilings above it and the roof. Through the hole, we see stars in the night sky.

"Well," Caitlyn says. "We know how the thief left, anyway."

The dark haired slayer speaks in an Irish accent.

"Maybe we ought to be callin' Giles about this?" she asks.

The other two slayers nod, but none of them move.

And in the distance, we hear a sonic…

_**boom**_

**Rome, The Immortal's Warehouse complex**

The metal door that The Immortal had taken Buffy through is, with a loud boom, not only knocked off its hinges but sent flying. The door skids across the brick street bent almost double, sparks flying as it screeches along until it hits the opposite warehouse. Buffy tumbles and rolls through the open doorway, slightly smoking, but except for some dark smudges both she and her clothing appear to be undamaged. The Immortal's chauffer runs around the limo and pulls a gun out from underneath his coat, but Buffy is immediately on her feet and yanks the gun out of the chauffer's hand.

"Hey, Marco," Buffy says as she grabs the chauffer by the throat. His dark, handsome face is marred by an expression of vicious rage. "I wanted to ask you something…

"Can _you_ say _ka nama ka lajerama_?"

The head of the chauffer is immediately transformed to the head of a snake, with huge, dripping fangs!

"Didn't think so," Buffy says.

With that, Buffy turns and throws the hissing serpent man through the open doorway to the flaming warehouse. The serpent man's hissing turns into a strange and inhuman wail.

A second later, the wall of the burning warehouse shatters outwards. Red bricks fly out in every direction as the huge, smoking head of the dragon emerges.

Buffy, however, is no longer anywhere to be seen.

**Devonshire, the air above the inn**

_**boom**_

"Did you hear that?" Willow says. She and Hecate are still sitting cross legged over a tree.

"Yeah, I'm also feeling a spike in power," Hecate says. "I'm guessing that means…"

"It's _starting_," Willow says with a shrug. "Seems soon. I don't feel ready."

Willow floats and leans over to Hecate. Her hair starts to turn white again, and her eyes start to glow blue.

"I think I gotta go," Willow says.

Hecate leans over. She remains in her Dr. Stevens guise.

"Good luck Willow," Hecate says. "Be careful."

They kiss.

"It's not like_ I'm_ in danger," Willow says in a somewhat sad tone of voice. "Not anymore, anyway."

With that, she starts to float downward. Vines with bright, glowing blue flowers emerge from the ground underneath her. They wrap themselves around the descending Willow until she is covered completely in a green and blue cocoon. Then the cocoon merges with the ground underneath it until the vine, and Willow Rosenberg, are gone.

"There's more than _one_ way to get hurt, Willow," Hecate says. "Particularly for someone who cares as much and loves as hard as you do."

**Rome, The Immortal's Warehouse complex**

The dragon flaps his immense wings.

**You're quick, **the dragon formerly known as The Immortal says. _** Very**_** quick. I am impressed, even though your attempt to escape me is futile. **

The dragon hovers in the air, craning his long neck to look over and down one street, then another.

**There's really no place you can hide, Buffy. You may have expected my betrayal, but I truly doubt you expected **_**this**_**. **

The dragon now hovers over a spot, looking down. Our viewpoint follows his gaze, and we see an open manhole.

**Clever, **he says. **Although it would have been **_**cleverer**_** if you had pulled the manhole cover back over you.**

So saying, the dragon blows a stream of blue fire into the open manhole. Other manhole covers elsewhere in the warehouse complex shoot upwards, propelled by steam and the heat of the dragon's breath. The brick roads shake, and smoking cracks open up in the ground.

The dragon flaps his wings and rises a little higher in the air. He chuckles.

Then, a flying manhole cover hits the dragon in the head with a ringing sound. The dragon's head snaps back, and the dragon falls into the warehouse beneath him. The building collapses partially under the sudden, unexpected weight.

"You think I didn't_ expect_ this?" Buffy says. "Pal, I've been _waiting_ for this since the night we _met_."

**Over the English Channel…**

…we hear another sonic…

_**boom**_

**Rome, The Immortal's Warehouse complex**

The dragon seems to be slightly dazed as Buffy steps out through the open doorway to another warehouse.

**You…you expect me to believe that you already knew about this? **the dragon says in a skeptical tone.

"Well, _yeah_," Buffy says. "A friend of mine…well…she was _kind_ of a friend anyway…watched your ascension."

**Who…? Oh, you mean **_**Anyanka**_**?**

"That's right," Buffy says. "The Urals, 1092, you became _Loresh_, the winged fire breathing demon who destroyed and consumed an entire village. You aren't even a thousand years old."

**A lucky guess**, Loresh a.k.a. The Immortal says. **And anyway, I was already over 300 when I ascended. Remember Mr. Wilkins? **_**He**_** was no spring chicken when he ascended. **

**By the way, I**_** liked **_**him. I was advising him. I look forward to avenging him. **

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah," Buffy says. "Here is the part where the big bad monster gloats that it's got me where it wants me. For a guy renown for being the epitome of smooth, you are becoming really cliché really quick."

**You **_**protest**_** too much, Buffy, **Loresh says. **I know that you had the witch check me out mystically and on the computer. I know you had both your sister and your **_**own**_** watcher research me as well. You even had your friend, Mr. Harris, use his new eye to learn more about me (I **_**knew**_** Odin, by the way. Did you think I wouldn't recognize His eye, or that I couldn't counter it)? You couldn't have known what I was…"**

"Dracul, father of Dracula," Buffy says.

**What?**

"You know, the Dragon and the son of the Dragon," Buffy says. "_**Your**_ son. He got into my head, but I turned out to be a lot deeper than he thought I was. When he touched those layers, I saw through him. Did you think I wouldn't also be able to see through _you_? Like loser father like loser son.

"By the way, my friend Xander? He _**did **_see through you, once he realized that it was his _right_ eye telling him what he needed to know instead of his left eye."

**You lie! You couldn't have…**

"What? Figured you out? Big bad you who is a thousand years old?"

Buffy chuckles.

"You know what the_ irony_ of this is, don't you? If you hadn't have destroyed the Rio Academy, I wouldn't have remembered who I was. You think you are just facing Buffy, a 24 year old vampire slayer from California…"

Buffy then closes her eyes. When she opens them, the whites of her eyes are red, and her corneas are yellow. When she resumes speaking, her voice is that of a _multitude_ of girls and women.

"…_**but instead, because of your own actions, you are facing something far older, far wiser, and far more powerful than just Buffy the Vampire Slayer.**_

"_**You're facing US." **_

**Somewhere over the Swiss Alps**

_**boom**_

Snow tumbles off a mountain peak at the sound of the sonic boom.

**Rome, the Immortal's warehouse complex**

The dragon is staring at Buffy, who gazes up at him with fearless yellow and red eyes.

"_**And the really funny thing is? We KILLED the original Loresh…**_

Quick cut to the look of dawning horror on Loresh/The Immortal's dragon face.

"…_**in Hawaii…**_

Loresh's dragon face now has a look of comprehension as well as horror.

"…_**next to a volcano..."**_

Loresh's dragon eyes continue to widen.

"…_**about 18 to 19 thousand years ago."**_

And we now hear a distant sonic

_**boom**_

Loresh shakes his head, clearly trying to regain self control.

**That was then, slayer, **Loreshsays. **This is now! **

So saying, the dragon pulls back his head, then breaths blue fire at the spot where Buffy is standing.

Buffy, however, jumps straight up. The dragon, still breathing fire, tries to follow the angle of her leap by moving his head and the resulting stream of fire up. But the momentum from Buffy's incredible jump continues to propel her upward just ahead of the dragon's flaming breath, until we hear a much louder sonic…

_**BOOM**_

…and Buffy stretches out her right hand and grabs the Scythe as it flies by. The dragon loses track of Buffy, and our viewpoint switches to a dragon's eye view as he looks around, searching for the slayer. Finally, he finds her, above and behind him. Buffy is clutching the hovering Scythe with both hands like she is doing a reverse pull-up.

"_**Our turn," **_"Buffy" says. Then, holding the Scythe like a battle ax, she dives towards us with the roar of the Primitive.

**Inside the Library portable at the new Sunnydale High**

Doc is drinking from a glass of water held in Dawn's right hand. Dawn has a rather disgusted look on her face, but as she pulls the glass away, we hear Doc gasp:

"Thank you."

"So, where were we?' Dawn says as she hands the glass to Xander.

"After nearly getting caught by the minions of the Watcher's Council, we found a hiding place," Doc says. "I'm not certain where…"

"Czechoslovakia," Dawn says.

"Oh," Doc says. "At any rate, most of what became Europe was startlingly uninhabited and forested then. The Order of Mitra and their Stoic Legion companions built a series of buildings in the middle of a particularly large tract of forest. The Council and their masters still could not track the Key, which was still contained within the priestess.

"The clerics and I worked on spells that would continue to hide the Key after the priestess died. Of course, I suggested we simply kill another priestess and transfer the Key into her, but the Order would not hear of it, at least until they had no other alternative."

"Meanwhile, while the Order built their little settlement, I worked with the priestess for years without success. As far as she was concerned, she was the same person she was before she died and her soul was replaced by the Key."

Our viewpoint switches to the priestess and Doc in a dim room. She is looking intently at a small bowl. As we are watching this scene, we witness an apparent time lapse as the priestess goes from youth to middle age to old age.

"Finally," Doc says. "_Finally_, we stumbled on the answer. The priestess, by this time an old woman, was working in the kitchen and cut her finger. A drop of blood dropped into a small bowl, and in an apparent impulse, the priestess decided to try to move it with her mind."

We witness the incident, and the old priestess looks intently at a bowl next to an open flaming pit, and the bowl suddenly jumps about two inches to the right and totters on the edge of the pit before it falls in. The priestess stands up and starts to yell, then runs off.

"Blood, you see, was the _key_ to the Key," Doc says with a slight chuckle. We now watch a succession of images as the priestess drips her blood onto objects and they move, first very small objects over very small distances, but then larger objects over larger distances. Once again, we also see the priestess age until she is extremely old looking and propped up on some pillows.

"Of course, when the power of the Key was accessed, the Wolf, Ram, and Hart and their subjects were able to track us once again," Doc says. "But by this time, the Order and the Legion had dug in their defenses, and the demons and even slayer they sent after us were destroyed. Eventually, even the Wolf, Ram, and Hart were convinced to sign the Key over to the Order for a very tidy sum and the promise never to allow it…I mean _her_…to fall into the hands of demons who were trying to launch an invasion from one of the more aggressive hells."

"Dawn," Xander says. "I need to talk to you."

The scene switches back to the interior of the library portable.

'Can't it wait?" Dawn asks.

"No," Xander says. "It really can't."

"Hold on," Dawn says to Doc. "You _really_ don't want to know what I will do to you if you try to get away now."

Dawn then turns to Kate and Jo.

"_Watch_ him," she says.

Dawn walks with Xander to the door of the portable. When they step outside, it is clearly dusk.

"What is it?" Dawn asks.

"Doc is lying to you, and the eye says it's really important for you to know the truth," Xander says. "Doc killed the priestess, in fact he _gutted_ her, to open a gate. _That's_ how the Council tracked them down. It didn't work, the bleeding was too fast (in fact, that's how he knew to do '_shallow _cuts' with you), and once the Key was free of her earthly body, she refused to cooperate with him. The Legion, when they discovered what Doc had done, handed him over to the Watcher's Council as part of their payment for the Key. The Council and the Wolf, Ram, and Hart tried to torture and execute him, but as you already know, Doc is almost impossible to kill and just as hard to keep imprisoned.

"But that's not the most important thing."

Dawn doesn't say anything. She waits.

"The most _important_ thing," Xander says. "Is that Doc is not a lost explorer. He's more like a scout from his home dimension. In his home dimension, he's one of billions of spawn who are just as strong and hard to kill as he is. And back home, they were running out of room."

"So Doc _wasn't_ trying to go home," Dawn says.

"No, he's trying to bring the rest of his family to live _here_," Xander says. "He has about twenty billion identical brothers, or really siblings since he's actually a hermaphrodite.

"And that's only _his_ family among _others_ that he'd invite to settle here."

Suddenly, we hear Kate Lockley's voice yell out.

"_**Dawn!!!!**_"

Dawn runs back into the portable, followed by Xander. Doc's long tongue is wrapped around Jo's neck. Jo's face is purple and she is unconscious, if not dead. Kate is holding her gun out but is obviously worried that she will hit Jo instead.

"I _warned_ you," Dawn says in a cold voice. Suddenly, her eyes are lit from within by a bright green light. There is a flash of green light, like a small lightning bolt, in the vicinity of Doc's head. Then, Doc's head and tongue vanish. Jo falls limply forward. Doc's headless body immediately disintegrates into a black slime. Xander runs forward and pulls Jo's slime covered body away.

"She'll be OK," Xander says. "But she's going to have trouble breathing for awhile."

Kate turns and looks at Dawn, whose eyes are still glowing green.

"What did you _do_?" Kate asks.

"I gave Doc a little homeopathic remedy," Dawn says. "I squeezed a little of my blood from the cut on my cheek into his water."

"So where did his head go?" Kate asks.

"Well, if I had _Willow's_ power, I would have sent it into the middle of the _sun_," Dawn says. "But I don't, so I sent it to the bottom of Sunnydale Bay instead."

"So that's the end of Doc," Kate says.

"I wish, but I don't think so" Dawn says. "He was once 'executed' during the French Revolution. According to witnesses, his head grew spider legs and climbed out of the basket and ran off.

"I understand the executioner and about one hundred onlookers fainted."

Dawn steps forward and kisses Xander on the cheek as he helps a coughing Jo back to her feet.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on things, Xander," Dawn says.

Kate and even Jo groan.

"Hey," Xander says. "I think you should let me tell the eye jokes from now on."

**Rome, The Immortal's Warehouse complex**

Or more accurately, the air above it.

Buffy dives towards the dragon Loresh's head and swings the Scythe at his neck. The dragon jerks his head aside, but Buffy's attack still draws blood, and an agonized roar from the huge pure demon is heard.

Loresh flaps his wings to try to gain height, but Buffy, pulled by the Scythe like Marvel's version of the Mighty Thor is pulled by his hammer, flies up and tries to jam her weapon point first into the dragon's breast. The point of the Scythe strikes home, but doesn't go very deep before it is wrenched free by the dragon's continued movement upward.

Buffy briefly hovers under the rising dragon, before she holds the Scythe out point first again and starts to fly towards him again. Suddenly, Buffy's expression changes as we see a huge shadow fall across her.

"_**Uh oh**_," she says in her multiple voices right before Loresh's huge tail slams down on her. Buffy's body hurtles downward with such force that the flaming warehouse building underneath her collapses in around the point where she strikes it. Then, the very ground around the collapsed building also collapses into a huge sink hole. Two other warehouse buildings start to fall into the sink hole.

Then, a stream of bright blue flame strikes the very center of the sink hole, and bright flames start to burn around and within and even under the sink hole. We hear the deep voice of the Master of the Circle chuckle, and our view switches to the dragon as he flaps his great wings and rises further into the air. Suddenly, the dragon's entire body is outlined in blue flame before vanishing with a loud POP. The blue flames hover briefly in the air as they fade like exhausted fireworks. Then, we are looking down at The Immortal's warehouse yard (all of the remaining warehouses are burning). We hear the sound of distant but approaching sirens.

And then we hear a sonic…

_**boom**_

…in the distance.

**The courtyard by the deserted Rome Slayer Academy**

Giles and Lyssa are running forward. Lyssa embraces Karyn, who is standing next to Andrew and the Italian slayer Isabella.

"Is everything OK, Mom?" Karyn asks.

"You haven't heard from Buffy have you?" Lyssa asks.

"No," Karyn says. "What's up?"

"Buffy summoned the Scythe," Giles says grimly.

"But _that_ means..." Andrew starts to say dramatically.

"..that she's in grave danger!" Giles, no stranger to speaking dramatically himself, finishes. "We _must_ find out what is happening!"

Suddenly, the center of the courtyard erupts in a shower of bricks and a gigantic plant with one huge, closed blue flower grows rapidly out of the ground. The blue flower opens, and within is Willow, her hair white and her eyes glowing blue.

"Hi guys," Willow says as she floats down to earth. The flowering plant returns to the earth and the courtyard seems to restore itself as the bricks float back and resume their original positions.

"Willow, do you know…?" Giles starts to ask before Willow interrupts him with an upraised hand.

"Just a sec, Giles," says Willow. She closes her eyes, and a green lightning bolt suddenly strikes the ground next to her. Striding from the spot where the bolt struck is Dawn, her eyes glowing green.

"Where's Buffy?" Dawn asks.

Suddenly, we hear a very loud…

_**BOOM!!!**_

…and Buffy suddenly drops from the sky. She hits the brick covered courtyard with such force that cracks in the brickwork erupt in a circle around Buffy with a radius of about 15 feet. She crouches to the ground with the force of her landing, but then with a toss of her head she stands upright. Her eyes glow red and yellow. Her clothing, hair, and face are smudged with soot, but otherwise she seems unharmed.

"_**Showtime**_," Buffy says in her multiple voices even as the echoes of the boom continue to thunder overhead. As the scene fades into black, we still hear the rumbling aftershocks of the boom. They continue into the next scene before fading away entirely.

**Angels' office, Wolfram and Hart, Los Angeles, one day later**

Spike and Angel are sitting on Angel's desk.

Spike hops off the desk.

"I think I'm gonna keep _movin' on_ at O'Halloran's," Spike says. "You comin'?"

"Nah," Angel says. "I think I better make sure the head of the Capo gets where it's supposed to go."

"Suit yourself," Spike says as he walks out of Angel's office.

Angel gets up and closes the door behind Spike. Then, he goes over to the package containing the Capo's head and opens it. Angel then pulls the Capo's head out. It is now much smaller, human sized in fact. But as Angel looks at the Capo's head, it opens its eyes and smiles. Then, an impossibly long tongue emerges from the open mouth and on the tongue is a crystal. Angel, clearly unsurprised, takes the crystal, lays the head of the Capo back in its box, and reaches into the pocket of his jacket. Angel then pulls out a larger crystal with a piece missing. Angel fits the piece on the crystal and it immediately knits together. There is a brief flash of light. Angel holds the completed crystal for a second, then slips the whole crystal back into his jacket pocket. He pulls the head of the Capo back out of the box. He hold the Capo's head right up to his own face. The head of the Capo speaks in a whisper we can barely head.

"I have a message from Buffy Summers," the head of the Capo whispers. "She says: 'Time to make your choice.'"

Angel gently lays the head of the Capo back into its box. We then move to a close up of Angel's face. His expression is grimly determined. We fade to black.


	6. Next, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Next, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Next, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

We only see very brief scenes.

Buffy standing and effortlessly holding an utterly huge weapon that appears to be a cross between a cannon and a spear gun. Riley Finn is standing next to her.

Willow in her giant robot form grappling with a huge Cyclops.

Dawn jumping off the roof of a building, landing on the ground, and relieving a charging demon of his sword. Dawn then uses the sword to parry the attack from another demon, then stabs backward to slay the demon she originally took the sword from.

We hear Buffy's multiple voices in voice over.

"_**Showtime.**_"


End file.
